The fruit of Adam versus the Fruit of St. Joseph

We are already six days into March, and if you have not already noticed, this month is dedicated to St. Joseph, the husband of our Blessed Mother and the foster father of our Lord. Our Holy Church is encouraging us during this month to pray and learn to model ourselves after this heroic Saint of virtue whose life was completely devoted to God. For those of us who do not know where to go to learn who St. Joseph was. All one has to do is go and pray St. Joseph’s Litany. Here we can find his virtues, and his life by his titles that point us, especially for men, to the virtues and life that the Church is encouraging its flock to live. Virtues like justices, prudence, obedience, and loyalty to just name a few. In his litany we find, pray and reflect on St. Joseph’s life lived as a “Guardian of the Redeemer,” “Pure Guardian of the Virgin,” “Provider of the Son of God,” “Zealous Defender of Christ,” “Servante of Christ” and “Minister of Salvation” to also just name a few. Each title could have its own article on St. Joseph and that is what I plan to do here. I want to discuss one aspect of St. Joseph’s holiness that both men and women can pray and reflect on for this month. I want us to look at the title of: Glory of family life.

This title is calling me because it is no secret that families are struggling. My wife and I do talks in our community to couples who are preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage. We speak to highschoolers as well during vocation days at their schools. I could go into all of what I have learned and seen from these talks, but I can summarize it real easily: Marriage is no longer seen as bearing fruit in people’s lives. What do I mean by this? I think I have the best and only image that we need. A comparison between Adam and Eve and St. Joseph and Mary. 

Let us start with Adam and Eve, and we go right to Genesis 3:6-7 and it reads, 

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

What just happened here, and more specifically what is Adam doing here? For my female readers, please be patient with me for a moment here. Why does Adam fall? He listens to his wife, but more specifically what is happening here is Adam is listening to creation while not obeying the Creator. Adam puts his trust in creation (Eve) and reaches out to grab the forbidden fruit that he knows he is not supposed to eat. He sees the good in the fruit, and forgets to love the only true Good causing the bond between Adam and God to break. This results in Adam and Eve for the first time ever sensing a feeling of nakedness or insufficiency that requires to be covered. This new condition is the consequence of Adam and Eve choosing to not follow the commands of God. From our catechism as kids we learned that there are few commands that Adam receives in the Garden, but I want to focus here on only one of them which is the command to multiply. Why this command in particular is so important to this reflection is its direct link to the family. In Genesis Chapter Three in the Fall of Adam, part of Adam’s disobedience (not following God’s command) is to not establish a family with his wife. Instead, Adam and Eve decide to sin against God by attempting to erect themselves in a position equal to God. What we learn from their error, if we pay attention, is that couples who do not look to God as their source, but rather make themselves the source can only produce death and destruction. Is this not what we see in our society today? When we do not choose family, then what are we choosing? Sterilization, abortion, relationships with no commitments (contraception), multiple partners at the same time (pleasure over love), and homesexuality. The list goes on and on, but unlike the Litany of St. Joseph, we have a litany whose titles do not give any glory to the family.

Now let us look to St. Joseph and Mary and let us dive into the Gospel of Matthew 1: 18-21; 24-25:   

"Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins…When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”

Immediately, we should see in Sacred Scripture the virtues and life of St. Joseph that we find in his Litany speaking to us. I want to focus on three specifically. First, we see St. Joseph did not want “to disgrace” Mary. He is the protector of Mary. Returning to Adam, where was he when Eve was talking to the serpent? He was not there, and therefore we can say that he was not protecting her. St. Joseph, the Saint that we look to this month, is always found in Scripture guarding and safe keeping our most Holy Mother and Lord. Second, who is St. Joseph listening to? Not Mary. In fact, Mary is silent here as we see her often pondering silently in her heart (Luke 2:19). This couple compared to the Genesis couple both obey God, but now think about the message that St. Joseph receives. How challenging this must have been, but we see how he does not trail from his faith. He listens, and takes the trail that God puts him on. By listening to God, we see the fruit that St. Joseph truly cares for–the fruit of thy womb (Luke 1:42). The consequence? The fruit that St. Joseph receives from obeying God is his salvation. As we already saw, Adam listening to creation and receiving the fruit from Eve’s hands is his fall from grace.

I know that Adam and St. Joseph are not two figures that are normally compared to one another. It is usually Jesus and Adam, but when we consider the image of men, husbands, and fathers, we can look to Adam and then look to St. Joseph and see that truly, glory is found in the family where St. Joseph is the head. Adam fails in this respect and he brings toil and pain to his family. St. Joseph receives and cares for Love itself. Adam is going to allow for death. In a family, a father and a mother both must always be open to life. St. Joseph’s yes to God and our Blessed Mother’s yes to God teaches us that family never prevents life, but allows it to multiply and grow. A family that prospers and finds joy, is the family that is allowed to flourish. I am not just speaking in numbers regarding its members but also in spirituality. St. Joseph and Mary have at the center of their life, Christ, and no matter where they are or if they are travelling from one place to another, Christ is always present with them. For the couple in Genesis we see how Adam and Eve expel themselves from the presence of God.

As I said, I wanted to discuss three aspects of St. Joseph from the passages in Matthew, and here I want to discuss that last point and conclude this article. What we learn from St. Joseph in the Gospel is that love between spouses is not found in words between couples trying to control their life, that is, to take things into their own hands, but between our prayers that we give up to God as individuals and together. St. Joseph who obeyed the Law was a man of prayer. His whole heart, soul and mind were God’s and by constantly seeking God in prayer, this was one of many reasons why he was chosen to care for God’s Son. For this month and for the rest of our life, all of us should look to St. Joseph and see how this holy man put God in the middle of his family and loved his family. He truly followed the commands that Christ would give later which were love God and love your neighbor (Mark 12:30-31). St. Joseph lived by these commands while Adam chose to ignore them. I pray that during this month you find yourself taking time with St. Joseph, praying his Litany, and reflecting on the Glory of the Family.

I hope this article helps in your journey in our Catholic Faith. If you like to read more from me or follow me on Instagram, please give me a follow at:

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